Changes

Nothing stays the same. Have you noticed? Change is one thing we can rely on. Even when things are going better than ever before, running on time, and just the way they should - change is on the way. You can count on it. But as disconcerting as this is, the opposite is also true. And that's a plus!

I woke up early this morning, opened my bedroom shutters, and watched the sky lighten. It went from cobalt gray, streaked with navy, and just as my eyes were getting used to that it brightened to deep blue and lavender. I'd like to keep the lavender, but even as I watch it, it's becoming a soft dove gray. Before long, this early fall morning will spring from the shadows and into the day with bright pink swathes of light and purple cloud. It looks like rain today.

And so goes life. It is the way things are meant to be. Summer has gone and autumn is creeping around the edges of the woodlands. Here in Virginia, the great eastern hardwood forests are showing flashes of yellow and red. They won't let go completely for a few weeks yet, but change is in the air. The nights are lengthening and the days getting shorter. Squirrels are gathering acorns. Spiders are thinking they can spend the winter inside my house. This too will change!

Even Miss Kitty is showing signs of her deep rooted ancestry in the Norwegian forests. Her pads have tufts of fur between her toes, Her ruff is full, and her naps are getting longer.

And because of our animal DNA, we too feel the changes coming. Some, like me, look forward to beauty of the fall. A walk through the woods, surrounded by the fire of autumn, ignites my energy, fires my imagination, and makes me look ahead to cool days, brilliant blue skies and starry nights. Yellow school buses add to the color, the kids are in school, I can go grocery shopping without worrying about being run over by a miniature cart with an unlicensed driver at the wheel. The lake is calm, the speed boats will soon be under cover, and the only sounds in my cove will be the from the wild birds that land at midnight on their way to the southlands. 

But you may be one of those who dread the fall. Someone who sees the summer disappearing. The leaves dying, the grass turning brown, and, soon it will be cold. Don't despair! This too will change. In the meantime, let the fire of autumn ease the strain of letting go, look forward to an evening beside a log fire, watch some college football! Toast some marsh mallows, and, seriously ... eat a bar of chocolate!

The French have a saying: 'The more things change, the more they stay the same.' I think that means that in spite of all the changes that happen - there's a constancy in all of this. So take heart! Enjoy the changes, roll with them and always look forward.